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I was browsing my WoW screencaps for something entirely different when my eye fell on two shots from the Dalaran inscription trainer’s place. (This is in the Legion version of Dalaran.) Both are actually from inside the book-filled cupola: the first looks up towards the impossibly high ceiling, the second down towards the trainers’ room floor.

Screencap from the Dalaran inscription trainer’s place in World of Warcraft.

Screencap from the Dalaran inscription trainer’s place in World of Warcraft.

Neat, right? Well, I wondered whether anyone’s actually done anything similar for real and hit the Internet. And I found some!

The library is situated in the neo-Gothic Morrice Hall building that previously housed the Presbyterian College of Montreal from 1871 to 1961.

Klaus Fiedler, McGill Library.

None of them are exactly the same as the game library cupola, of course: apart from the the scale of the rooms, the scale and direction of the bookcases might differ. But apparently it isn’t terribly far-fetched to make a round multi-storey library and pack it chock-full. 😀

I was amused the other night when, while playing World of Warcraft and re-watching Warcraft: The Beginning (the movie based on WoW), I flew my toon into Stormwind just as Alliance troops were forming up on the bigger screen:

This might be one of the very few times I’m doing the same thing in a game and in real life. Last week I both started looking for inspiration to sew something summery for myself…

…and leveling my WoW tailor:

The first of these projects is a part of my two-year resolution of not buying new clothes. (Apart from socks and underwear.) So far, so good on both endeavors; it’s great to return to sewing things to wear. Now, if only I could both play and sew at the same time… 😀

Life does indeed continue, as do projects and self-care, whatever form that may take. In that sprit, here’s a surprising and delightful detail from one of my current World of Warcraft projects – my main toon got a LEGENDARY piece of chest armor:

It was a random world quest reward. Holy moly! I didn’t even know legendary items could drop in this expansion.

And here’s a discovery from Suramar City: they have trees with star-filled canopies!

Suramar is the first city in the game that actually feels like a city, and it’s gorgeous to boot. We saw a significant leap in terrain design from Cataclysm to Pandaria, and Legion looks even better. If it weren’t for those pesky guards we need to avoid in the City, I could spend a long time just wandering around, discovering amazing details like this.

The latest WoW expansion was the main entertainment for us this past weekend.

So far everything I’ve seen is visually gorgeous. The new animations are great even with lower graphics settings (I especially like the ore nodes collapsing when mining), and there are quite a few of them. No wonder the system requirements are so much higher than for previous expansions. I was also amused how certain areas match some of my transmogs. The screencap above is all warm browns, purple and a dash of green like my main druid’s current mog.

In my book, Blizzard’s decision to launch Legion before Labor Day was great – an extra day playing. I’m looking forward to exploring more, and there will definitely be more WoWing this week.

But right now I’m quite happy to get back to the IRL grind. You know you’re officially An Old when several days of a favorite activity wear you out. 🙂

Creative Director and artist Matt Stevenson shared his designs for World of Warcraft classes / specs imagined as real-world commercial brands. Wow! I’m seriously impressed not just by the top-notch designs, but by the imaginary products the brands have been applied to. Here are a few of the best, IMO:

The latest World of Warcraft expansion, Warlords of Draenor, dropped while we were asleep. Husband and I already took an hour this morning to play the intro on our druid pair before work.

On the basis of in-game chat it seems many people have called in sick or taken the day (and tomorrow!) off. We’re being responsible adults during the day, but come nightfall, oh, we’re so going to be glued to our screens! Whee!

Welcome to the first Geeky Color Combos post! Yes, it’s yet another regular feature filling up the blogosphere. I hope you will like it nevertheless. 🙂

You know those design recommendations that urge you, especially when hesitant, to start with a picture and base your color selections on it? Here are some ideas on how to achieve it with a geeky starting point. I’ll select a photo, a painting, a still, a screencap or the like that is geeky in some way, and use mainstream photos to illustrate how a color combination pulled from that model image might work in real life.

The culture of Thunder Bluff is loosely modeled on Native Americans. The city sits atop a high, three-tier mesa – how about those views! Red, aqua and white appear everywhere on building exteriors, tent-like roofs and other outdoor elements like totem poles.

Red, aqua and white is a versatile and eye-catching combination. If aqua isn’t a favorite – as it isn’t for me – tweak it towards teal blue or turquoise or even light blue. You can also adjust the shade of red to your liking from cranberry to soft coral red, or drop small amounts of another color into the mix. The combo also works in different situations. For example, when picking wall paint colors:

Totally channeling Thunder Bluff without even realizing it! (Trying to take a self-portrait is really hard for me. This is an attempt on the stairs that got “artistically” blurred. Director’s intent all the way, heh.)